As The Snake Strikes
by confused-Luna
Summary: OneShot post war. It is his last year at Hogwarts, and his last year to ask her something that he has been dying to ask her since 3rd year...


As The Snake Strikes

OneShot DmHg. Don't really know what else to say, just hope you like it. So please R&R, even if you don't really want to. Any opinion is welcome, even criticism (as long as it isn't too mean). Just pretend that Voldemort died in HBP and the 7th book never happened and this should make sense.

He breathed heavy, thinking about what he was about to do. He knew it was completely irrational and pointless, but really, what was wrong with trying? It wasn't impossible for him to get her to go out with him… just improbable. He started to stand up and walk over to the table she was sitting at in the library, but decided against it and sat back down.

"Gosh, how hard can it be to ask a girl to be your girlfriend?" He mumbled to himself.

Then again, it wasn't just any girl, it was THE girl. She was the smartest witch of their age, and possibly the smartest witch in the century. She was the only girl he could think of since 3rd year. She was the girl that he mercilessly taunted just to get her attention.

She was the girl that taunted him almost every night in his dreams for over four years. She was the reason he switched to the light side.

_Flashback_

"_Malfoy, what are you doing here?!?" _

_Hermione gasped as she entered the Order's hideout. He was descending the stairs to see which member of the Order had arrived for the meeting. The portrait's curtains opened and Mrs. Black started screaming. _

"_Filthy mudblood! What are you doing here in my house? Get out! I will not have treacherous creatures such as you setting foot in my home and insulting a pureblood!!! Beast, lowly fil…"_

_She was cut short as Malfoy closed the curtains on the portrait of Mrs. Black. He turned to her and sneered,_

"_I'm sure that you could learn a thing or two from this woman's rants."_

_He smirked after making the comment, then proceeded to descend the stairs while answering her question._

"_Well, if you must know, I'm here under our deceased- headmaster's protection. I have what you would call a proposition." _

_He smirked as he said this, and watched her eyes narrow._

"_What kind of proposition exactly?" _

_She crossed her arms as she said this, and raised an eyebrow in question. He had gotten to the bottom of the staircase, and was standing right beside her._

"_It's not really any of your business, but since you asked so nicely, I just might tell you."_

_Pausing, he looked at her, motioning for her to uncross her arms and stop glaring daggers at him. She gave out an exasperated sigh, and sat down on the stairs. He took a seat beside her (much to her surprise) and started to tell the story._

"_I'm sure that you've already heard that I was sent on a mission by You-Know-Who to get rid of Dumbledore." _

_Hermione nodded in response, and motioned for him to continue._

"_I was unable to carry out the mission, so Snape killed him instead. Before Snape killed Dumbledore however, the old man offered me the chance to switch sides. Become a double agent if you will. After Snape took me with him in hiding for awhile, I told him that I wanted to take Dumbledore up on the offer, even though the man was dead."_

_He grimaced slightly, and looked over to see Granger shudder. He smirked, and then continued._

"_I knew that Harry had witnessed the whole event, so I went out in search of him. I was able to find him after getting off of the Hogwarts Express at Kings Cross. I talked to him, and persuaded him to take me into hiding here, in exchange for all the information I knew. So here I am."_

_Hermione thought for awhile, then asked him,_

"_Why did you switch sides?"_

_He thought about it for a moment. He could tell her the truth, but she would just scoff at the very idea. He looked over at her, and saw that she was staring at him, as if trying to figure out what he was contemplating about. Not wanting to cause any issues, he decided to tell her half of the truth._

"_I couldn't go back. The Dark Lord would have killed me for failing him. And anyways, why should I want to go back. What was there to go back to? This might sound ironic to you, but I never wanted to be a Death Eater. I don't want to go murder people without a cause. I don't want to work on the dark side just because I fear being on the side opposing someone like You-Know-Who. I've seen what he does, and it's completely horrible. The killing, the torturing, but most of all, the fact that he has no respect for any human's life other then his own… if you can call him human. He cares for no one, not even his best servants. Why should I want to work for such a horrible… thing. All that would come out of it would be destruction, demoralization, hate and pain. I don't want those things."_

_He turned to see her staring at him, and looked straight into her eyes. Deep swirls of chocolate met with stormy grey. He couldn't help but get lost in her eyes. They were so deep and warm. What did she see in his? He was thinking about telling her the rest. He wanted so badly to tell her that he wanted to be on her side, to have the chance to win her trust and care. To fight side by side with her in the last stand, and protect her from all danger. Mainly, he wanted to tell her that he was madly in love with her. Before he could speak though, she broke eye contact with him and spoke._

"_Even though it sounds like you mostly switched to our side in order to save your own life, I believe your sincerity."_

_She blushed a little after saying that, and then stood up. She turned to walk away, and then turned back around to face him in order to add one more comment._

"_Just because you switched over though, doesn't mean I trust you, and it certainly doesn't mean I'll become friends with you any time soon."_

_Draco silently laughed to himself, and then spoke up, sarcasm dripping from every word he spoke._

"_Oh Granger, you just completely crushed me. I was SO hoping that you would fall madly in love with me after I confessed my whole being to you just now. However will I continue to live, knowing that you don't want anything to do with me?"_

_She frowned as he said this, and gave him a disapproving look._

"_You know, sarcasm isn't very becoming."_

_He grinned after she said that, and then replied,_

"_Well, that is just a matter of opinion. If you ask most any other girl, they will say that they found my sarcasm interesting, entertaining, and attracting."_

_He said the last part with a bit of emphasis, and gloated, knowing that she couldn't say anything to his last comment, knowing it was true. She frowned, and turned again to walk away. She gave him one last disapproving look, and awkwardly walked away, knowing that his eyes were following her the whole way._

_The two remained on the same terms for the following month. Typically, they ignored each other, but occasionally Malfoy would make a snide remark, just to make her mad. On a few occasions, they got themselves into a heated argument. During one, they actually went as far as to throw books at each other. Tonks had to come in the room and perform a full body binding spell on both of them in order to keep them from killing each other. The most comical part about all of this though, is the fact that no one would have ever guessed that Malfoy was madly in love with Hermione, and simply aggravated her in pursuit of her attention._

_The Order was sitting in the kitchen during lunch, planning an ambush on a Death Eater hideout. Lupin suddenly arrived at the house after visiting a nearby wizarding community to buy a few new potions for a plan they recently came up with. (The last bottles of potion they needed were smashed in one of the more recent arguments between Hermione and Draco) He entered the kitchen in a daze, and held out a letter he received from a hooded figure in the town. It read:_

_Potter,_

_Just to let you know, I have captured all of the wizards and witches in England and brought them to Hogwarts as hostages. If you want to save these countless lives, you will come and surrender to me tonight at 11pm. Don't be late, because for every minute you aren't present, I will kill 20 people. Enjoy your last hours._

_No one needed to hear who sent it to know who it was from. Hermione paled, Mrs. Weasley nearly fainted and Potter had his jaw tightened. No one could really accept that the time had finally come._

_They all arrived about a half hour before 11 to scope out the place. Death Eaters surrounded the Forbidden Forest while giants surrounded the remaining perimeter. Inside Hogwarts, people were moving around hastily and crying. Tonks looked up into the windows of the castle and grimly stated,_

"_Well, at least we know where the hostages are."_

_Half of the group snuck off to break into Hogwarts, while the remaining people went with Harry. The rest was a blur. Green started to flash everywhere and various agonizing screams were heard. The people in Hogwarts were released, and several (like Neville and Luna) asked to have their wands summoned so they could participate in the fight. Harry snuck off to battle the Dark Lord and the rest of the people stayed to fight the Death Eaters. All that Malfoy could remember was standing by Hermione, doing everything in his power to protect her. He pushed her out of the way when a few Unforgivable curses flew their way and cursed anyone trying to harm her._

_Finally, Harry remerged from the woods. Voldemort was dead, the war was over. _

_After that, life went on well. The dark mark on his arm disappeared and he was able to go back to living at his house. His dad had died during the war, so his mom was near tears when he had to leave her about two weeks later for Hogwarts. It nearly tore his heart to pieces to see her like that, knowing that she would be left all alone in the giant mansion until Christmas break, but he knew that he had to leave her. They said their goodbyes at King's Cross, and he entered the train. As soon as he got on, he was ambushed by Blaise, Crabbe and Goyle. _

"_Draco! Come sit with us, we haven't talked to you in FOREVER!!!"_

_He rolled his eyes, and coolly responded,_

"_Boys, you were over at my house last weekend if I remember correctly. And in case you forgot, I have duties to attend to."_

_He pointed to his Head Prefect badge, which gleamed on his robes, and gave them a smug look. Then, pushing past them, he moved further back in the train where the Head compartment was. He quickly reached the door, cautiously slid open the compartment door, and grinned as he saw Hermione sitting by the window, reading a new book. He knew that since she probably forgot about him over the last weeks of summer, he needed to make the most of his new opportunity to taunt her and gain her attention. What else could he do? He casually leaned against the wall and asked,_

"_Granger, what ever are you doing reading yet another book? Haven't you learned that no matter how many books you read, you will NEVER learn everything there is to know about life?"_

_He smirked and waited for her to look up. It took her several minutes, but she looked up at him and shot daggers at him (he had grown used to that over the summer, and just grinned a little in response)._

"_Like you know everything there is to know."_

"_I never said I did, but I'm sure that I know more than you when it comes to things in life actually worth knowing."_

"_You have no clue what you are even talking about! There is nothing that you know more about then I do."_

"_Whatever mudblood."_

"_Well, I thought I had actually made some breakthrough with you over the summer, but I guess not."_

"_What are you talking about?"_

"_I thought that you might have changed your opinions about blood purity and become more mature after the battle."_

"_Well, I've obviously proved you wrong, haven't I?"_

"_Well in that case, I forbid you from talking to me for the rest of the trip to Hogwarts!!!"_

_He rolled his eyes at the weak reply, knowing that she wouldn't be able to follow through with that threat. He put his stuff down, and sat in the seat opposite of her. She changed the topic, and asked a question that was obviously bugging her since he slid open the door._

"_How did you get Head Boy?"_

_He looked over at her and then said,_

"_I thought that I was forbidden from talking to you?"_

_She rolled her eyes and prodded him for a response._

"_How else? By being extremely smart, good looking and a skilled wizard."_

_She sighed, and then went back to her reading. _

_End flashback_

His palms started sweating as he stood back up again. She had tried to make it clear to him that she didn't have feelings for him in any way, but he couldn't help but think differently.

He saw how she would stare at him sometimes while mixing a potion in Professor Slughorn's class. She would often times walk by his table to get a few extra ingredients in the front of the room, and would critique his work on her way back. It was almost as if she wanted him to be jealous of her knowledge of the subject.

He noticed how she would sit in their common room reading another book (all the while situated in the most attractive position she could muster) until he left the room. Oftentimes, he would sit down at the desk opposite of her couch to do homework, and caught her looking up at him to see if he was looking over. Typically, she would give up trying to get his attention, and would go sit by him at the table so as to work on homework with him (Of course, as much as he wanted to watch her while she "read" on the couch, he figured that she would choose to sit by him and do homework, which made him much more satisfied).

He caught her looking up from her text book in Transfiguration to gaze in his direction, often times meeting his gaze. She would then quickly look away, and hold the book in front of her face so as to hide her burning cheeks.

He even figured out that every time she took her shower in the morning before classes, she would purposely walk out with only a towel covering her body. Then, after getting dressed in her room and packing her book bag, she would leave a scroll of the previous nights homework on the table for him to retrieve and bring to her during breakfast, constantly claiming that she "forgot" it (Of course, it would also be easy to assume that she just purposely left it there, hoping he would kindly grab it for her and go out of his way to return it).

Sure, the two argued a lot. If they weren't mad at each other for hogging the bathroom or not cleaning up the common room, they were angry at each other for senseless arguments. He smirked as he thought of that. He was always good at making her mad. On the other hand though, they have been able to get along better and even talk to each other.

He snapped out of his stream of thoughts and started to walk over to her table. Currently, she was tutoring some 5th year Hufflepuff girl in Ancient Runes. He didn't want to disrupt her while she was busy, but he just couldn't wait any longer. He had almost arrived at her table when a flustered 1st year ran into the library.

"Someone help! My friend turned into a pineapple, and I don't know what to do!"

The girl started crying, so Hermione ran over to talk to her.

"Explain to me how this happened?"

The girl sniffled and looked up at Hermione, tears streaming down her face.

"Thomas's older brother bet him 20 sickles that he couldn't turn himself purple, so he tried, and turned himself into a pineapple instead!"

She started crying again, and wailed out,

"Thomas is gonna be a fruit forever!"

Hermione quieted her, and then spoke.

"Let's just go find Professor McGonagall. I'm sure she'll be able to turn Thomas back into a person in no time."

She smiled at the girl before they ran out to retrieve the pineapple (I mean Thomas) and find the professor.

Draco let out an exasperated sigh as he watched her run out of the library. Now what was he going to do?

He walked back to the table he previously occupied and went into deep thought (yet again). He felt like such a snake, creeping around like this. He practically followed her every move since 3rd year, and obviously, not much has changed. He was a Slytherin though, why shouldn't he be snake-like? He thought a little more about this analogy, and made a mental image out of it.

_Like a snake, he crept after his prey, slithering silently about the land. He hissed at any others who came near his prey, stating that it was his, and his alone. It would be a near impossible task, taking down a lioness such as the one he set his eyes on. Would he successfully strike and implant his venom into her blood, and then manage to wrap himself tightly around her, until she submitted to his will? Or would he be destroyed in his attempt, left crushed and wounded? Such a large task and such small hope. What was he to do?_

He fell asleep at the table while waiting for her to return to the tutoring session, all the while dreaming of snakes and lions.

He woke up with a start. How long was he asleep? He looked at the clock on the library wall, which read twenty till ten. Thank goodness it was a Friday night. Granger was sure to be in the common room "reading". What else would she have to do? The two Weasley brats and Potter would still be at Quidditch practice, seeing there was a game between them and Ravenclaw tomorrow and Harry made them practice like crazy. He quickly packed up his bag and sprinted down the hallway. He would not miss his chance to ask her out this time. He ran down the hallways, and was about to go up the flight of stairs to the Head's Dorms before an idea occurred to him. He descended several flights of stairs and ran out to the grounds.

After retrieving what he wanted, he ran back into the building, up several flights of stairs, and down many corridors until he was finally in front of the Dorms. He was about to enter when he felt his forehead. He hadn't realized how winded he was from all that running. He magically got rid of all the sweat, and fixed his hair so that it wasn't plastered to his forehead. He then took a deep breath.

"White lilies."

The portrait swung open and Draco slowly entered. He looked over at the couch, and there she was. More gorgeous then ever before, Hermione sat reading Hogwarts, A History for about the millionth time. She looked over at him, and then looked back at her book. After a second, she looked back at him again.

"Great, I probably look like a nervous wreck," he thought to himself.

He then calmed himself down to the best of his abilities, and coolly walked over to the couch. Hermione looked slightly surprised as he did this, since he never sat on the couch with her.

"What exactly are you doing here on a night like this?" Hermione asked him jokingly.

"Thank goodness we're currently on good terms," he silently thought, before answering her back.

"Well, if you must know, I have something rather important to take care of here."

He smirked after saying this, knowing that he most likely got her attention.

"What kind of business?" She asked inquiringly.

"Well," he started, "I'm not sure I should tell you. I'm not exactly sure what you would say to it."

She raised her eyebrows questionably at this. Obviously, this had peaked her interest.

"Go on, you can tell me. As long as you aren't planning anything horribly dreadful, I'll keep it a secret."

Draco laughed as she said this. That was a complete lie. Of course she would tell everyone.

"It has to do with a girl." He bluntly stated.

Hermione raised her eyebrows a little more, showing even more interest.

"Go on!"

He heard the eagerness in her voice, so he continued.

"I've been madly in love with this girl since 3rd year, and my plan is to ask her to be my girlfriend tonight, in hopes that she'll accept."

Hermione's slight smile dropped entirely, and furrowed her eyebrows in a confused expression.

"Well, why don't you tell me about her?" She asked in a nonchalant way, attempting to hide the disappointment in her voice.

"Well, she's a 7th year student, and is completely undeniably gorgeous."

He stopped, waiting for her to say something.

"Go on! You can at least tell me what she looks like."

"She has warm, brown eyes, somewhat curly brown hair, and perfect teeth."

Hermione's interest was peaked again, and she hopefully asked,

"What house is she in?"

Draco smiled, and then carelessly stated,

"Gryffindor."

Hermione gasped as he said this, knowing full well that there was only one Gryffindor that looked like the description he gave her. Then, eagerly but nervously, she asked,

"What's her name?"

Draco grew extremely nervous as she asked that, knowing full well he had to answer. Like the snake in his analogy, he was about to strike and implant the venom. He wondered if she would actually submit to his will, and make him the happiest man alive, or if she would she crush him, like a lioness killing a snake. Nervously, he gave his final answer.

"Hermione Granger."

Hermione gasped as he said her name, and opened her mouth in awe. Then, out of his bag, Draco pulled out a shimmering bouquet of white lilies, her favorite flower.

"Hermione, will you be my girlfriend?"

Her mouth opened even wider, and then tried to close it. She tried to open her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Draco started to get extremely worried. Why couldn't she answer him? She tried to speak again, but yet again, no words came out. Then suddenly, she flung herself onto his side of the couch, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him. Draco was shocked, but happily kissed her back. She pulled away from him and looked into his eyes. Once again, deep swirls of chocolate met with stormy grey. She looked at him for a moment, and then leaned in by his left ear. She opened her mouth, and was able to softly speak her answer,

"Yes."

Well, hope you guys enjoyed it! I put a lot of work into this, so you better review!


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